JOHN DEVER MAKES INCREDIBLE COMEBACK CIRCUIT EVENT WIN AT HARRAH'S RESORT

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – In one of the most amazing feats in World Series of Poker Circuit Event history, John Dever, a dentist from Ephrata, PA, overcame remarkable odds to win Event #8 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City.

The $570 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em Event drew 271 runners for a total prize pool of $131,435. 20 players returned on day two with Dever among the bottom 25% in chips and with play down to ten, facing a 9-1 deficit against the chip leader, Peter DeVito.

With less than 120,000, the amateur was able to double through Grantel Gibbs, cracking Gibbs’ pocket aces all-in with K-J after running jacks hit the turn and river. It was a crushing beat for Gibbs, who down to a couple of blinds, was eliminated a short time later to set the stage for the final table.

9^th Place – Final table play began at 3:40 pm with blinds and antes at 5,000/10,000/2,000. A few short minutes after the clock resumed, Michael McGuinness had all his chips in the middle with pocket aces preflop vs. Cernuto’s A-K. This time, aces held to double McGuinness and put him back into contention.

Dever chipped up even more after Patrick Flanagan was all-in against him on a      board. Flangan had top pair with pocket   , but was drawing dead to Dever’s   . Dever’s nut flush put him over the half-million mark and sent Flanagan to the rail in ninth place. Flanagan is a 45-year-old attorney from Atlanta, GA. He collected $2,894 for his finish. 

8^th Place – Aces came into play again, this time in the hands of Peter Devito, who called Jody Rummel’s all-in preflop raise of 160,000. The rockets held once more, this time against Rummel’s A-K on a 10-5-5-K-3 board. Rummel, a 38-year-old HR consultant from Frisco, TX, took home $3,628 for eighth.

7^th Place – Blinds moved up to the 6,000/12,000 level and Jesus Cabrera’s short stack could finally endure no more. After shipping his last few chips over to Cernuto, he headed off to collect seventh place prize money. On the upside, Cabrera, the runner-up in the $1,650 Main Event, picked up another 20 points toward the Harrah’s Resort Casino Championship for a total of 95.

Knowing that 35 points separated him and the two players tied for second, Mark Sykes and Alex Rocha, Cabrera practically skipped his way to the payout table.

“I’m freerolling it baby!” he said gleefully, with just three events separating him from his seat into the million-dollar freeroll WSOPC National Championship.

Cabrera is a self-employed 46-year-old from Atlanta, GA and a ten-year Little League Baseball coach. As a child, Cabrera and his family escaped to the United States from Communist Cuba. Seventh place paid $4,616

6^th Place – Cabrera should be warned however, that nothing is guaranteed, especially in the game of poker.

Such was the case for DeVito, who had more than a 2-1 chip lead over his nearest opponent heading into the final table. After doubling Benjamin Chan and taking a few other hits to his stack, the former chip leviathan saw his stack drop to impish proportions and then to nothing after he moved his remaining 220k stack all-in from the hijack position with pocket fours. McGuinness made the call with 10-K and spiked top pair on a K-J-7 flop. After a no help came on the turn or river, DeVito made his premature exit to from the final table to collect $5,965 sixth place prize money.

5^th Place – “Miami” John Cernuto and Mike “Little Man” Sica are known in poker circles as guys with strong senses of humor. With the two of them together however, the ballroom at Harrah’s resort had warrant to charge everyone in the venue a two-drink minimum.

Cernuto had entered the morning’s seven-card stud tournament and was letting his stack in that event dwindle from the forced bets and antes. Sica made mention to Cernuto about his whittling stack and Cernuto suggested that Sica play it for him.

A short while later, a J-J-6 flop hit the board with Cernuto and McGuinnes heads up. McGuinness moved all in with pocket sevens and Cernuto looked over to Sica and said with a sigh, “I have to call,” before tabling pocket jacks, drawing more laughter from those around. While Cernuto’s stack in the stud game was nearing the felt, his final table stack moved the other way, to 680,000.

Blinds were now at the 10,000/20,000 level and McGuinness made a button all-in raise after fifth street on a  [9c    board. Simon Lam called with all of his chips and mucked after McGuinness showed A-5 for top pair. Lam, a 21-year-old student from Brooklyn pocketed $7,827 for fifth.

4^th Place – All the while, a quiet lion by the name of John Dever sat patiently on his below average-sized stack watching the carnage unfold around him. The good dentist couldn’t wait forever and made his move, doubling-up on all-ins, first through McGuinness and then through Chan, moving up to over 700,000 chips. 

Chan took a beat from Cernuto after reraising Cernuto all-in with pocket threes on a 9-9-4-3 board. Cernuto had flopped trips with K-9 but was far behind. The river came down a king, leaving Chan crippled while Cernuto moved up to 1.2 mil. Chan was eliminated a few hands later. The 26-year-old from New York took home $10,436 for fourth. 

3^rd Place – Dever continued to move up the payout table, and perhaps was surprised to see the two larger stacks tangle in a critical hand that saw McGuinness open for 60k and Cernuto re-raise to 295,000. McGuiness called and the flop came down     Cernuto moved all-in for 482,000 with top pair and McGuiness called, tabling   . The turn was a vicious one for Cernuto, the  .

The river   shipped the pot McGuiness’ way and Cernuto packed up and left the table an unhappy man. Cernuto is a three-time WSOP bracelet holder and one time WSOP Circuit Event Champion. For third place, he added $14,145 to his over four million in lifetime tournament earnings. Video of the monster hand between Cernuto and McGuinness can be viewed here.

2^nd Place – Heads up play began shortly before 10:00 pm with blinds at the 15,000/30,000 level and McGuinness holding more than a 3-1 lead over Dever. Post flop play was at a minimum with the two willing to leave it all to the cards. Dever was able to double up twice preflop vs. McGuinness, first with A-10 vs. McGuinness’ J-Q to pull almost even and then again with K-J to his opponent’s 10-8 putting McGuinness on the ropes.

“I’m pretty much shocked, but happy,” said Dever on how he felt about taking down the event

Dever, who commits most of his time to his dentistry practice, admits that he does not play much poker and that once he got into the money, he was “just playing for fun” and trying to learn as much as he could from the players around him.

“It was an awesome learning experience, but I think I did alright.” said the dentist, flashing a brilliant smile.  

Still to come are four more official WSOP Circuit Events, including the Regional Championship which begins Sunday, December 19^th.

See the complete Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Circuit schedule and previous results here.  The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s runs through December 22nd. You can find the complete 2010/2011WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE here.

Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City
777 Harrah’s Blvd          
Atlantic City, NJ 08401

(609) 441-5165 
Toll-Free: 1 (800) 645-6774